Ultralase launches world-first Twitter eyesight mash-up

12th September 2011

A pioneering research project which will reveal the state of the nation’s eyesight launches today using the social media channel Twitter to plot people’s eye prescriptions.

The Twittervision study, commissioned by vision correction specialist Ultralase, will use information tweeted by the public to populate an evolving map of UK prescriptions. As such, the company is calling for people from all regions to get involved and tweet their prescription.

More than 2,000 entries have already been added to the national database and, as further information is shared, it will provide an interesting snapshot of the state of the UK’s vision – highlighting regional differences and patterns.

The project will also raise money for Ultralase’s charity partner Vision Aid Overseas; an organisation dedicated to transforming access to eye care services in developing countries. For every tweet posted on the map, the company has pledged to donate 10 pence to the charity* – adding to its ongoing fundraising which has raised more than £11,500 this year alone.

Luisa Borg-Myatt, Online Campaign and Content Manager from Ultralase said: “This is a really exciting project that the whole country can help to shape. It will be interesting to see whether regional patterns emerge when the whole of the UK get on-board and share their prescription.

“This is something that has never been done before so we are really excited to see the outcome and of course raise a lot of money for a very worthy cause. People are generally really interested in their prescription and seeing how that compares to family and friends and now they can see how they compare with the rest of the country. This project is completely interactive and I imagine it will be a constantly evolving picture.”

All a user has to do is share / tweet their prescription in the following manner: L:-3 R:-4 (Insert postcode) and add the hashtag #ultralase. Each entry will be added to the map live and included in the map’s key which has 11 different ranges from perfect vision, to poor vision.